Jennifer Pan was a well-behaved young woman, a "golden" girl in her family's eyes. A successful student at Mary Ward Catholic High School in Markham, Ontario, Pan was the child of Vietnamese refugee parents who grew up in a strict household. She did what she was told every day and eventually got accepted into Ryerson University in Toronto with a scholarship.

Her father Huei Hann and mother Bich Ha Pan maintained tight control over her daily life and did everything they could to ensure her success. She was forbidden from attending school dances or parties and was forced to learn piano, figure skating, and martial arts. These rules worked, and Pan transferred to the University of Toronto, graduated, and found a respectable job.

York Regional PoliceIn 2010, Jennifer Pan, who hired a hitman to kill her family, received two life sentences without the possibility of parole for 25 years.

However, in reality, all of these accomplishments were part of a complex lie.

Jennifer Pan did not graduate from university, nor did she even finish high school. As her family eventually learned, she had been forging fake report cards and university transcripts for nearly a decade. Additionally, she had a secret boyfriend, Daniel Wong, for seven years.

And together, to cover up their lies and protect their life together, Jennifer Pan and Daniel Wong plotted a murder conspiracy to kill her family. In 2010, the couple hired three hitmen to kill Huei Hann and Bich Ha Pan. The brutal attack led to the death of Pan's mother, while her father miraculously survived despite being shot in the head.

Shortly after, Jennifer Pan's crimes were uncovered, and she was ultimately convicted and sentenced to prison, with her own father testifying against her in court.

This is the horrifying story of what happened when Jennifer Pan reached her breaking point and decided that murder was the only way out.

The Complex Double Life of Jennifer Pan Under "Tiger Parents"

Family PhotoJennifer Pan, a few years before plotting to kill her family, in high school.

Jennifer Pan was born on June 17, 1986, in Markham, Ontario. Her family, Bich Ha Pan and Huei Hann Pan, had fled Vietnam in 1979 and worked hard to provide opportunities for their children that they never had. Both Jennifer Pan's father and mother worked at the automotive parts manufacturer Magna International.

Eventually, they bought a large house, a Lexus, and a Mercedes, and saved $200,000. To discipline their daughter, they enrolled her in piano lessons at the age of four and figure skating lessons in elementary school. She appeared to be academically and socially successful during her high school years.

However, when she tore a ligament in her knee, her dreams of becoming a professional figure skater were dashed. In eighth grade, Pan began to self-harm.

In 11th grade, Jennifer Pan found solace in a relationship with Daniel Wong, but Wong had to transfer to a new school after marijuana was found in a police car. Pan's grades began to drop from A's to B's, but she was still accepted early into Ryerson University — until her university offer was rescinded after she failed her calculus class in her final year.

Public SpaceJennifer Pan forged fake report cards and university transcripts for years to please her family. But when they found out, she and her boyfriend Daniel Wong (in the picture) decided to kill them.

Pan began to forge her report cards and claimed she would start at Ryerson in the fall of 2004. She told her father that she would transfer to the University of Toronto after spending two years at Ryerson and even claimed to have won a $3,000 scholarship. Huei Hann Pan proudly bought her a laptop.

In the fall, Pan would go to cafes or Wong's dorm instead of attending classes. She even claimed to have successfully transferred to the University of Toronto in 2006.

As the 2008 graduation ceremony approached, Jennifer Pan said the university only gave one ticket to each student and she gave hers to a friend so she wouldn't be left out.

The Plan to Kill Her Family

The alleged new graduate Jennifer Pan claimed she was volunteering at a children's hospital in Toronto. Jennifer Pan's parents, suspicious of her lack of uniform or ID, followed her to work.

After being exposed, her phone and laptop were confiscated, and she was banned from seeing Wong.

Court EvidenceJennifer Pan's father, Huei Hann Pan, and mother, Bich Ha Pan.

For the next two years, she regained their trust and her phone privileges were restored. At 24, she had neither been drunk nor gone out. However, she reconnected with Daniel Wong, who provided her with a backup phone, which she used to ask for help staging a robbery to kill her family.

Wong introduced her to an underground associate named Lenford Crawford. After a series of messages, Pan agreed to pay him $10,000. Crawford began preparations by surveilling her neighborhood on Halloween 2010. On November 8, Crawford texted her: "After work, it will be game time."

As Huei Hann lay in bed and Bich Ha read downstairs, Jennifer said goodnight to her mother and opened the front door. At 10:02 PM, she turned on the lights in the upstairs study. Three minutes later, Crawford and two others, David Mylvaganam and Eric Carty, entered the house.

Carty tied Jennifer Pan's hands behind her back with a shoelace and the others dragged her parents to the basement, covering their heads with blankets. Bich Ha Pan was shot three times in the head while her husband was shot in the face and shoulder.

After the Murder of Bich Ha Pan and What Happened to Jennifer Pan

As the gunmen fled, Jennifer Pan called 911.

At that moment, her father emerged from the basement — miraculously alive. The police believed Pan during the interrogation that night, but they became suspicious about how she could reach her phone while being tied up. During a second interview on November 10, their suspicions grew when they asked her to simulate how she did it.

York Regional PoliceJennifer Pan was interrogated for 10 hours and eventually confessed.

On November 12, Jennifer Pan's father, who woke up from a coma, told police that his daughter whispered to him like "a friend" during the attack. Detective William Goetz, when he re-interrogated Pan on November 22, 2010, uncovered the truth. He said he knew everything, and Pan immediately broke down.

"But what will happen to me?" Pan cried.

Daniel Wong and Jennifer Pan were arrested — Jennifer that same night. Wong and the hitmen were arrested in the spring of 2011.

On December 13, 2014, Pan, Wong, Carty, Crawford, and Mylvaganam were convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder. They received life sentences without the possibility of parole and an additional life sentence to be served concurrently. Carty was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in 2015 and received an 18-year prison sentence.

However, during an appeal in 2023, Jennifer Pan was granted a new trial for her mother's murder, and her conviction was overturned.

The judges overseeing the appeal determined that the trial judge made a critical error by instructing the jury to consider only the first-degree murder option; this did not allow for the consideration of second-degree murder or manslaughter options.

In April 2025, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the appeal, and in 2026, all four defendants agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges.